Apparatus for compressing automobile bodies

ABSTRACT

Apparatus for compressing automobile bodies comprising a preferably U-shaped support and sheet metal plates welded to the end faces of the machine frame while being provided with lateral flaps hinged to opposite sides of said machine frame, a wedge member being pivotally connected to one end face of the machine frame, and said lateral flaps and wedge member being adapted to be tilted toward the automobile body inserted perpendicularly with regard to the longitudinal axis of the machine frame.

United States Patent Inventors l-lellmut Galter; I

Volker Stille, Kassel, Germany Rheinstahl Henschel Aktiengesellschaft Kassel, Germany APPARATUS FOR COMPRESSING AUTOMOBILE 3 Claims, 2 Drawing Figs.

U.S. Cl

Int. Cl B30b 7/04 Field of Search 232, 233, 264, 269, 295, auto body curless, can

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,958,273 11/1960 Morrow 100/264UX 3,101,044 8/1963 Schlidt et a1. 100/42 Primary Examiner-Billy J. Wilhite Attorney-Walter Becker AXIS 0F OROTATION 2 F HINGE 8 5 1} The present invention relates .toan apparatus for compressing automobile bodies of junkedautomobiles.

The heretofore known customary methods for cutting up automobile bodies bymeans of shears or baling presses do not meet one important requirement. e

The steel ,scrapis not 'free from foreign bodies,as for instance copper, aluminum, brass, zinc, and possibly also paint. 7

With the heretofore developed shredders, the automobile bodies are beaten up to small sheetmetal pieces which are then magnetically sorted and posttreated in furnaces'so as to yield the desired highvalue scrap. Suchstruetures, however, are rather large and become economical only if they arecontinuously supplied with automobile bodies ,tobe cut up. Therefore, it isnecessary totransport old automobile bodies from a fairly wide surrounding to a shredder installation which involves considerable cost. I e r t It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide an apparatusfor compressing automobile bodies which will make it possible with a minimum of power and a minimum of will appear more clearly fromthe following specification, 'in a connection with the accompanying drawing, in which:

FIG. 1 diagrammatically illustrates a front view of an apparatus according to the invention.

FIG. 2 diagrammatically illustrates a section taken along the linell-llofFlG.l. f L e The apparatus according to the present invention is characterized primarily, in .thata machine frame'comprising a U- shaped support and sheet metal plates welded to the end faces of the machine frame is provided with lateral flaps or gates hinged thereto and has a wedge member connected to one end face of the machine frame by means ofa hinge, said lateral flaps and wedge member being adapted to'be tilted by hydraulic cylinder piston means toward the automobile body inserted perpendicularly with regard to the longitudinal axis of the machine frame. j

In this way that portion of the automobile body which is most difficult to deform, namely, the bottom of the automobile body will be deformed the least whereas the roof of the automobile body will be pressed inby the wedge member in a direction transverse to the longitudinal axis of the automobile body. In view of the thus obtained bend, the automobile body loses a portion of its rigidity. 1

Referring now to thedrawing in detail, the apparatus according to the present invention comprises a U-shaped support 1 which is preferably composed of metal sheets welded together. To the endfaces of said support 1 there are welded two metal plates 2 and 3. These two plates together with the support 1 form the machine frame. The lateral flaps or gates 5 are by means of hinges 6 connected to the two sides of the frame 4. Furthermore, a wedge member 7,i s by means ofa hinge 8 connected to one end face of the support. Each of the twolateral flaps. 5 and the wedge member 7 are adapted at their hinges to be tilted by hydraulic cylinder piston systems 9 and 10 respectively. An automobile body (not shown in the drawing), is so inserted into the apparatus that its longitudinal axis will be substantially perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the machine frame 4. The wedge member 7 is lowered until the front edge 11 of the wedge member 7is horizontal. In this way the roof of the automobile body is pressed in and the bottom plate is bent or folded. The wedge member 7 is hydraulically locked by closing the oil supply and oil discharge from the cylinder piston system 10, when the wedge member is in its 1 moved-down position.

The cylinder piston systems 9 now begin to lift the lateral flaps 5. In this way the automobile body is further pressed together about the bend previously formed. The lifting of the lateral flaps is not carriedout in a continuous movement, but the operation is interrupted afterapproximately three quarters of the stroke so that the wedge member 7 can be tilted out of the not yet completely compressed. automobile body. in this way the noses 12 provided on the lateral flaps 5 prevent the automobile body from sticking to the wedge member. After the wedge'member 7 has returned to its starting position. which means again stands vertically, the two lateral flaps 5 are closed further ,until the noses 12 have their end faces 13 hit each other. A bell crank lever 14 is connected to cylinder 10 and hinge 8. The lateral flaps 15 are then again opened, the

compressed packet is removed, and the apparatus is ready for further action. a

With the packet produced by the apparatus according to the invention, the relatively smooth bottom side of the com pressed automobile body forms the outside. The requirement of work for producing such a packet is rather low in comparison to the heretofore customary scrap presses with boxshaped deforming chambers.

It is, of course, to be understood that the present invention is, by no means, limited to the particularshowing in the drawing, but also comprises modifications within the scope of the appended claims.

We claim:

1. An apparatus for compressing an automobile body, which includes: a frame structure comprising a support with oppositely located end faces, said frame structure also comprising end plate means connected to said end faces of said support, lateral flaps respectively pivotally connected to oppositely located sides of said frame structure for pivoting toward and m away from each other, compressing 'means pivotally coirnected to said frame structure at one of said end plate means for pivoting in a substantially vertical plane passing through both of said end plate means, and ,power operable means respectively operatively connected to said lateral flaps and said compressing means for respectively pivoting said compressing means in said substantially vertical plane through both of said end plate means and for pivoting said lateral flaps in a substantially vertical plane perpendicular to said first mentioned plane.

2. An apparatus according to claim 1, in which said compressing means has a wedge-shaped cross section with the wider side thereof facing outwardly. i

3. An apparatus according to claim 2, in which said lateral flaps are provided with noses pointing toward each other when said flaps are pivoted toward each other, said noses respecwhen said lateral flaps are pivotedtoward each other. 

1. An apparatus for compressing an automobile body, which includes: a frame structure comprising a support with oppositely located end faces, said frame structure also comprising end plate means connected to said end faces of said support, lateral flaps respectively pivotally connected to oppositely located sides of said frame structure for pivoting toward and away from each other, compressing means pivotally connected to said frame structure at one of said end plate means for pivoting in a substantially vertical plane passing through both of said end plate means, and power operable means respectively operatively connected to said lateral flaps and said compressing means for respectively pivoting said compressing means in said substantially vertical plane through both of said end plate means and for pivoting said lateral flaps in a substantially vertical plane perpendicular to said first mentioned plane.
 2. An apparatus according to claim 1, in which said compressing means has a wedge-shaped cross section with the wider side thereof facing outwardly.
 3. An apparatus according to claim 2, in which said lateral flaps are provided with noses pointing toward each other when said flaps are pivoted toward each other, said noses respectively being provided with edges for abutment with each other when said lateral flaps are pivoted toward each other. 